Gigantes Bean Tomato Casserole

I by no means used to love lima beans, that is instead odd I think as I actually have quite a deliver of various dried beans reachable always as they occupy this sort of principal place in my diet. My first enjoy become less than great, as I used beans from a can that had a slimy texture that just did not paintings with a combined bean salad, and yet again I made a huge pot of "fortunate bean" soup that lacked any actual flair and seemed as if it is able to have fed five thousand men.

That turned into in the course of my early days of exploring vegetarian meals and cooking. Since then, my cooking skills have strengthened and my know-how and palate are greater refined, and this recipe certainly proved to me that frequently whilst we think we do not like sure ingredients, it's miles due to how they had been organized and served. Lima beans or giant lima beans ? Gigantes ? Have joined the ranks with the other dried legumes in my kitchen.

I've shared this dish before on this space but made a few minor changes to the recipe and it is really worth sharing once more. It's a comforting casserole that you will want to serve on a ordinary basis. Easy to make, you may prepare the rest of your meal at the same time as it bakes within the oven. If this recipe does not convert lima bean skeptics, I do not know what is going to.

More Greek recipes you're positive to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Quinoa Dolmadakia (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

Fried Saganaki with Halloumi on a Greek Tomato Salad with Kalamata Olives

Greek Lentil Soup - Fakes

Skewered Greek Salad

Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes

I love making pancakes for a special weekend breakfast, so I'm continually seeking out new and creative ideas to bring life to the deal with. One of those ideas took place to me when I turned into looking at my recipe for a pineapple upside-down cake in which butter, brown sugar and earrings of fresh sweet pineapple are baked at the lowest of a easy white cake, after which the cake is inverted so that the cooked pineapple sits on top. Well, what may be simpler than pineapple upside-down pancakes, since the pancakes ought to be flipped in any case? So this recipe became born, with the clean rings of pineapple fried in butter and brown sugar until golden-brown and then placed on top of pancakes proper before they're flipped. These grew to become out to be a scrumptious weekend treat.

Any pancake batter may be used, however I might propose a thicker batter inclusive of the one I used right here to guide the pineapple earrings. A little almond extract is a first-rate addition to the batter as properly.

More recipes you may revel in:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Oatmeal Apple Pancakes

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Black Bean Chili With Mushrooms and Toasted Spices

Spring is ultimately right here, though in a instead cool way, but hotter climate is coming quickly and meaning lighter meals for most folks. Usually more salads appear at the desk, at the side of a extra choice of raw creations. Still, irrespective of the season, there's constantly an area at the desk for a thick, steamy and spicy chili, until of course it's far blazing hot out of doors, however even then, you might not be slaving over a hot stove for this pot of comfort ? Except, highly spiced foods do have a cooling effect for some alleviation from the warmth as they increase your body temperature and result in sweating.

I've shared this recipe before, rapidly after setting out Lisa's Kitchen, however revised it to encompass mushrooms, changed the spicing quite and updated the pics. Dry-toasted spices, along side the possibly sudden addition of fennel, provide this dish a unique and delicious smoky pungency. Best of all, one massive bowl is a meal unto itself even though it does goes well with a clean gently dressed green salad.

Other vegetarian chili recipes you're positive to revel in from Lisa's Kitchen:

Black Bean and Quinoa Mexican-Style Chipotle Vegetarian Chili

Vegetarian Chili with Kidney Beans, Black Beans and Rye Berries

Vegetarian Three Bean Chili with a Cashew-Pistachio Sauce

Raspberry-Banana Oat and Chia Seed Smoothie

I have not absolutely jumped aboard the chia seed bandwagon, but even supposing they're no longer the typical panacea as has been recommended, I don't thoughts taking benefit of the omega-3 acids, fiber, iron, calcium, protein, diet C, potassium and antioxidants that chia seeds provide. Apart from pleasant chia seed puddings, chia seeds are smooth to contain in smoothies, which I frequently experience for a wholesome, clean-to-digest and brief and smooth no-prepare dinner breakfast pick-me-up. And due to the fact chia seeds enjoy the identical soaking and fermentation approach that make the proteins in rolled oats digestible, they are a easy addition to the oat and yogurt mixture that I prepare the night earlier than my smoothie in a variation of the conventional muesli method ? Virtually stir oats and chia seeds into undeniable whole-fats yogurt and leave in a single day at room temperature, and the subsequent morning you've got a nourishing, tangy and delicious base for adding any variant of culmination and natural sweeteners to make a smoothie.

This combination of yogurt, oats, chia seeds, raspberries and bananas makes for a specially clean and extensive breakfast smoothie ? So tasty, in fact, that it felt like I changed into consuming a sparkling dessert!

Other smoothies you may revel in:

Oat-Mango Smoothie with Blackberries

Blueberry and Maple Syrup Oat Smoothie

Pomegranate & Blueberry Oat Smoothie

Mushroom, Lentil and Spinach Risotto

Warm, creamy, elegant, earthy and candy, risottos are consolation food to me. And despite the fact that people are frequently intimated by way of the idea, I love cooking them too. They're clearly very simple to make, and despite the fact that risottos do require pretty a good deal consistent interest, they are handiest actually fussy toward the give up of the cooking time whilst you need your rice grains cooked just to a perfect creamy and toothsome or al dente texture. But with a careful eye to this final step, risottos are really a snap to make.

Another adorable factor of risottos is their openness to other ingredients and flavors ? Even though I do consider that mushrooms and Parmesan cheese are almost important to a truly traditional risotto. This appealing mushroom risotto has lentils and spinach in addition to those conventional flavors, making it a whole meal on a plate.

Other legume risottos you may revel in:

Green Bean and Borlotti Bean Risotto

Spicy Azuki Bean Risotto

Spicy Tamarind and Channa Risotto Kitcheree

Potato and Green Bean Chaat Salad

I wasn't quite certain what to name this spiced up vegetable stir-fry, however it without a doubt is as a substitute like a dry side salad, so a salad it is. I cooked up a 3 path Indian meal and this delightful little dish made up the vegetable aspect of the dinner. It's pretty clean to make, and in case you want to shop time, roast or boil your potatoes the nighttime earlier than or within the morning before you certainly get all the way down to kitchen commercial enterprise.

Chaat — or chat — masala is essential in this dish, and can easily be made in your own kitchen (see this recipe here) or purchased from Indian grocery stores. Overall, this dish is rather mild on the heat side, making it a lovely and tempering accompaniment with some zesty flare to a spicy butter paneer masala. I also served a split mung and basmati rice kitcheree. It was a fine meal that was rather a homage to the culinary traditions of northern India.

This could be an awesome salad to take along for an outside outing because it incorporates no dairy and might not damage as fast inside the warm sun as many different potato salads do which might be dressed with mayonnaise or encompass cheese.

More spicy potato dishes you are positive to experience from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Bengali-Style Crunchy Potatoes

Indian-Style Potato and Pea Salad with Tamarind and Chat Masala

Samosa-Style Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Asparagus Pesto Lasagna with Mushrooms

After one of these long and dreary iciness, spring seems like even extra of a treat this yr than ordinary. Spending time outdoors is almost impossible to resist. It's a time of renewal. Everything is so fresh and luxurious. The sunshine warming and eye-catching to the body, thoughts and eyes. The fresh foliage and exploding blossoms and spring plants are nonetheless showing an awful lot in their earliest glory and new delights await.

And if you enjoy cooking and vicinity exquisite importance on making healthful and nourishing food for your self and your circle of relatives, then the beginnings of regionally harvested produce will stimulate your creativeness and palate as will the destiny end result of the imminent seasons.

One of the earliest plants here in southern Ontario is nearby asparagus. The season is as a substitute too brief for my liking, and for my husband too, who adores this unique and as an alternative sturdy vegetable. It is real that you may quite tons get asparagus anytime of yr where I live, however nearby produce has a freshness that truly cannot be matched. Each yr I give you new methods to serve this valuable veg and typically tend to go along with easy pairings of classic flavors and dress it up with butter, olive oil, lemon and seasonings so the asparagus can shine in all its glory while it lasts.

In this example, I wanted to test with a bolder combination and got here up with an asparagus lasagna that functions a solar-dried tomato and basil pesto that stars right alongside the asparagus. Mushrooms upload a few meaty texture and understated earthiness. The cheese mellows the dish out ensuing in a complex yet synchronous layering of sensations, literally and figuratively, that you may not quickly overlook.

The idea for this comforting and luscious dish got here from a recipe I stumbled throughout from Joanne Bruno. I will admit that I had never actually idea of the idea of including asparagus in lasagna before, but after doing a piece of studies and brainstorming, I revised the recipe, revised it all over again even as cooking, and the result became even higher than I imagined. It's a great spring recipe this is clean and absolutely as an alternative mild and effortlessly digestible despite the plain tacky factor.

More asparagus creations from Lisa's Kitchen you're positive to experience:

Asparagus Mimosa

Wild Rice and Asparagus Salad

Warm Baby Potato and Asparagus Salad

Asparagus Pesto Rice